“This brother…..looks familiar.”

Song Xingmu spoke up first with a smile, but the person he spoke to was not the body related to Liu Zhenqing by blood, but to Huo Fenglie.

Liu Zhenqing’s heart moved. They were acquainted? That would make this easy to handle. Just as he was about to speak, he heard Yi Chuan say: “That person is very good at martial arts. You just think he looks good, so you’re pretending to be familiar? Be careful you don’t get beaten! Do you know him or not? If you don’t, then he’s dangerous!”

Liu Zhenqing nearly laughed out loud. Had this Yi Chuan grown older but not wiser? How come ten years had passed and nothing had changed? He was still a reckless young man who demolished even his own people on the spot.

The corners of Song Xingmu’s mouth twitched. He looked at Yi Chuan speechlessly and then said in a helpless manner: “Since the two people eavesdropping here are not in the same party as those three people, they should not be our enemies. His martial arts skills are too high, I don’t want to be his enemy, ah.” When Song Xingmu finished speaking, he looked at Huo Fenglie. Although it had looked like a tie just now, the opponent had not shown his weapon from beginning to end. 

Liu Zhenqing said with a smile: “We feel the same. Apologies, we were hired by the vice president of the Liu Family Chamber of Commerce to investigate Wang Qi. There has recently been a problem with the river transport under Wang Qi’s control.”

Liu Zhenqing tossed out a little bait. As far as the current situation was concerned, Song Xingmu had arrested those people in a reasonable and fair manner. The rebels would at most find it troublesome and not suspect that they had alerted the enemy. By cooperating with Song Xingmu, they would be able to investigate the situation more thoroughly. 

As expected, Song Xingmu looked interested. “Why don’t we sit down and discuss in detail?”

Liu Zhenqing glanced at Huo Fenglie, and he nodded, raising his hand to help Liu Zhenqing walk out.

During this time, Song Xingmu continued to watch Huo Fenglie curiously, still feeling that this kid looked familiar.

Suddenly, his gaze froze. The whole atmosphere condensed at once, and murderous intent shot out unexpectedly. Yi Chuan on the side was the first to sense the change in Song Xingmu. It had been many years since he had seen Song Xingmu truly angry.

At this moment, even Yi Chuan couldn’t help but take a step back with internal misgivings. Just as he was feeling strange, he suddenly heard Song Xingmu scoff coldly.

The approaching murderous intent quickly alerted Huo Fenglie as he was passing by him, and he shielded Liu Zhenqing behind his back. 

“Why…..” Before Liu Zhenqing could finish speaking, Song Xingmu spoke coldly.

“General Huo, why are you visiting in secret?”

Huo Fenglie’s expression remained unchanged, but Liu Zhenqing and Yi Chuan were completely surprised.

Yi Chuan said in astonishment: “Is he really Huo Fenglie? Didn’t you just…..”

Without waiting for Yi Chuan’s question, Song Xingmu immediately attacked Huo Fenglie. Huo Fenglie pushed Liu Zhenqing back and raised his hand to meet Song Xingmu’s black-gloved palm.

Yi Chuan disregarded everything else and rushed forward to catch Song Xingmu and pull him away.

But Song Xinmu said in a cold voice full of murderous intent: “Don’t move!”

When Yi Chuan heard this tone, the look in his eyes instantly changed. He ignored Song Xingmu and pounced directly on Huo Fenglie.

Huo Fenglie judged that the situation would be difficult to resolve, so he drew his Chunjun sword at last to confront Yi Chuan.

Huo Fenglie was actually using his weapon, so if he didn’t need to protect Liu Zhenqing, nobody here would be his opponent.

The shell bracelet could be heard ringing softly with Huo Fenglie’s movements. The battle situation was constantly changing.

Song Xingmu knew at a glance that if he got involved, he would likely be defeated. With this thought, he planned to outwit him, and sent a sharp glance toward Liu Zhenqing.

Taking advantage of the moment Yi Chuan entangled Huo Fenglie, Song Xingmu ducked past him.

Liu Zhenqing had not figured out the situation yet. After all, he, Huo Feihan, and Song Xingmu were sworn brothers. Why would Song Xingmu suddenly try to kill Huo Fenglie? 

As a result, in the next second, a figure flashed in front of him and a black-gloved hand stretched toward his neck. Liu Zhenqing instinctively retreated, but it was already too late.

Huo Fenglie, who was always paying attention to Liu Zhenqing, switched his sword hand and veered toward Song Xingmu. He leaned back to avoid Yi Chuan’s attacking blade, and his free hand on the other side directly grabbed Yi Chuan’s wrist. There was a tug, and the moment Yi Chuan lost his balance, the arm holding his blade was kicked and turned away by Huo Fenglie.

In an instant, everyone’s movements stopped.

Song Xingmu grasped Liu Zhenqing’s neck, and Huo Fenglie’s Chunjun sword was pressed to Song Xingmu’s throat. At the same time, the arm he had kicked forced Yi Chuan’s blade to aim at his throat. Everyone was at a stalemate.

“Don’t touch him!” Yi Chuan shouted.

Huo Fenglie glared at Song Xingmu and said coldly: “Let go!”

Song Xingmu scoffed, unafraid: “You can’t manage both of us at the same time. Even if you kill me, I can take him down with me at the same time and Yi Chuan can still move. I’m not at a loss.”

“But…..you probably don’t want to die,” Liu Zhenqing said, the only one being held hostage. “Let’s calm down and talk about this. Although it was wrong of us to lie before, we had no choice but to do so. Unless your allegiance is not to the current Great Zhou Yuan clan, two military leaders should not fight each other upon meeting, ah.”

Liu Zhenqing’s heart was very disturbed as he said this. He couldn’t understand his brother’s current attitude at all.

Back then, he and Huo Feihan had agreed to guard the territory of Great Zhou together. Why was he suddenly facing Huo Fenglie, who was also guarding the country, with swords?

With a scoff, Song Xingmu just looked at Huo Fenglie and said: “This young master is correct. I truly don’t want to die, and I do not want to kill General Huo, but there must be vengeance. General Huo, why don’t you break an arm and a leg, and then we can sit down and drink tea.”

Huo Fenglie gave Song Xingmu a frigid look and did not answer.

Liu Zhenqing’s head was filled with questions. There was a grudge? They should have only met once or twice. Huo Fenglie was still a young child at that time, and they hadn’t spent time with each other at all. He didn’t even recognize him just now. One had gone to the west while the other went south, and there was no contact at all, so how could there be any enmity, ah?

“Both of you are military leaders serving the country and the people. How can there be personal enmity? There must be a misunderstanding. Is there a troublemaker sowing discord?” Liu Zhenqing spoke calmly.

Song Xingmu finally glanced at Liu Zhenqing. “You are rather intelligent, but a smarter person would do well to beseech his general now. Otherwise, I will not hesitate to kill you.”

“I am faster than you,” Huo Fenglie said calmly. Then his eyes darkened, and in the next moment, he kicked Yi Chuan away. The tip of the sword crossed Song Xingmu’s neck, and he directly used the broad blade of the sword to slap Song Xingmu’s gloved hand down hard. Song Xingmu’s hand strangely lost his strength just then, causing Liu Zhenqing to inexplicably feel that something was wrong.

Without dwelling further, Huo Fenglie turned around and fought Song Xingmu back. Liu Zhenqing was embraced by Huo Fenglie, who pressed the Chunjun sword against Song Xingmu’s neck once more. Yi Chuan was about to attack, but Song Xingmu reached out to stop him.

Song Xingmu’s originally beautiful fox-like eyes were now filled with a chill. “Good boy, your martial arts skills are truly better than your brother’s.”

“I am not familiar with you.” Huo Fenglie bluntly stated that he had no conflict with him.

Liu Zhenqing nodded in agreement.

Ignoring the danger at his throat, Song Xingmu tilted his head and curled his red-tipped hair with his fingers as if relaxed. He said with a chuckle: “Do you know how I recognized you?”

The sudden change in topic threw Huo Fenglie and Liu Zhenqing off for a moment. 

Song Xinmu said: “It is because of the sword in your hand.”

Huo Fenglie frowned, then seemed to have thought of something. However, Liu Zhenqing was still confused.

“Who gave you this sword? Or who forged it for you? I thought at first that you looked familiar, but when I saw this sword, it suddenly occurred to me. Aren’t you that simple-minded, unsociable little brat?”

Faced with Song Xingmu’s insult, Huo Fenglie did not reply. Instead, he slowly lowered the sword in his hand. Liu Zhenqing’s head was buzzing, as if some memory was about to emerge.

Song Xingmu raised his eyebrows and said: “Back then, in order to forge peerless swords for you two brothers, that person specially asked me to collect rare black ore from the outer seas. The amount collected was just enough to forge two swords. The first one was forged in time and given to Huo Fenglie as a coming of age gift. The second one was forged intermittently for several years due to the turmoil at that time, and was finally sent to the capital. It was intended for your coming of age, but that person had no chance to give it over.”

Liu Zhenqing’s eyes widened. He seemed to have just remembered the origin of this sword.

The coming of age gift he gave to Huo Feihan back then was a sword, which he asked the most capable swordsmith in the country to make. At that time, Er-gou was very envious when he saw his brother’s powerful sword, and Liu Zhenqing promised to give him one when he came of age. In the end, when the sword was finished and sent to the manor, he was already a treacherous minister and had no time to care about such unimportant things. Huo Fenglie was not in the capital, so he kept it in the warehouse instead of sending it out. Later on…..

Liu Zhenqing looked at Huo Fenglie, who explained in a low voice: “It was confiscated when the property was searched. The emperor gave it to me.” When he received it back then, he knew that Qing-ge had fulfilled his promise. From then on, he never parted from it.

Liu Zhenqing nodded. Song Xingmu smiled, and his laughter was rather mocking.

“You know its origin and are shameless enough to use the sword. Are you worthy of it?!” When Song Xingmu spoke, he no longer played with the ends of his hair, but folded his hands with one hand stroking the gloved one.

As Liu Zhenqing looked at Song Xingmu, all the contradictions seemed to suddenly become clear. As expected, he heard Song Xingmu say with a cold smile: “You dug up the grave, crushed the bones, and scattered the ashes. You didn’t believe in the person your brother trusted, and only listened to the rumors. Whoever praises you as a god of war is a fool. I didn’t expect that after your ge left, you didn’t protect him, but treated him like this. You deserve to die. If your ge’s spirit in the afterlife saw you treating his brother like this, he would definitely not let you get away with it!”

Liu Zhenqing looked at Song Xingmu, unable to bear it. It turned out to be so simple. Song Xingmu was his good brother. Knowing the rumors, although he couldn’t run thousands of li to beat him, now that person was in front of him. How could Song Xingmu, who placed great importance in friendship and ties of affection, not avenge his brother?

His master had no objection to Huo Fenglie, likely because he knew the inside story from his junior sister, so his attitude was normal. This caused Liu Zhenqing to ignore the matter of worrying about what other people who cared about him would think of Huo Fenglie’s actions.

Liu Zhenqing started to explain.

Suddenly, Song Xingmu’s eyes shifted and a secret signal was issued. He and Yi Chuan attacked at the same time.

But this time, Huo Fenglie seemed to react half a beat too slowly.

At lightning speed, the long and short blades were placed in a crossed position at Huo Fenglie’s neck. Song Xingmu planned to guard against Huo Fenlgie’s reaction, but the other party didn’t respond, so his posture was half-prepared.

Liu Zhenqing looked at Huo Fenglie in astonishment, and saw that he was a in a low mood. His face filled with puzzlement. Hadn’t they cleared things up between them? Why did he still look so guilty?

Liu Zhenqing had a headache, and was about to hold his forehead when he heard Song Xingmu say: “You’re not resisting? Did you discover a conscience? Then don’t blame me. It’s just a broken arm and leg, they can be restored. Your suffering is nothing compared to that of the dead!”

Seeing that Song Xingmu was about to take action, Liu Zhenqing truly feared that Huo Fenglie would be stubborn, so he said quickly: “It was a misunderstanding. He dug up the grave because he refused to believe that person was dead. It was due to excessive grief. His sister-in-law Li Xingruo can prove all of this. And the so-called breaking the bones and spreading the ashes was only because that person said before his death that he did not want to be buried in the ground, but wanted to leave in the form of cremation. He did everything according to that person’s wishes. There was nothing wrong with it at all.”

After speaking, he stepped forward at once and gave Huo Fenglie a fierce glare. “Who told you not to resist? Are you trying to scare me to death?”

But Huo Fenglie just looked deeply at Liu Zhenqing and said nothing.

“You think I will believe that?”

“Then you think General Huo still has reason to lie?”

“I originally thought he was someone who would never dig up graves. In any case, I am not familiar with him, so it is difficult to tell truth from lies. Unless Liu Zhenqing’s ashes are brought to me, my brother has no descendents and can only trouble me to bury him. I don’t need anyone else to help me. So do you have them?”

Liu Zhenqing was stunned. Looking at this person who was a carefree prodigal among the flowers in the past, his eyes were like lightning now, and even his naturally smiling lips were overshadowed by the grim look on his face.

It was rare for Song Xingmu to be like this. He last came here to the south to deploy troops after becoming a treacherous minister and carrying a lifetime of infamy, and met him while exterminating pirates. At that time, he scolded Liu Zhenqing with a face that was totally out of tune with his usual self.

During the final farewell, although Song Xingmu came to send him off, he still had a bad look on his face.

“Liu Zhenqing, our friendship of drinking, eating meat, and visiting the entertainment houses together ends here. Take good care of your body, you have to wear so much clothing even in the summer. When you die, you will have no descendents, so who will collect your body? Shall I do it for you? The capital is too far away, and I’m too lazy to run there! You’re on your own!”

Liu Zhenqing said with a smile: “That sullen face really doesn’t look good on you at all. Pay attention to your image, ah. But don’t worry, I won’t ask you to collect my body if I die. Song Xingmu, defend the seas for Great Zhou. This is the biggest help to me.”

“Get out of here, you,” Song Xingmu sneered. Seeing Liu Zhenqing put down the carriage curtain, he couldn’t help but say something through the curtain, “Spring is warm and the flowers are blooming. It is more appropriate to go south and cultivate yourself. Your favorite wine and fish are waiting for you.”

“En….waiting.”

The muffled voice sounded from behind the curtain. It was their last conversation.

He didn’t expect that someone as free and easy as Song Xingmu could be so obsessed.

After his master, Liu Zhenqing was no longer so resistant to revealing his identity, but Song Xingmu was a court official, and he really didn’t want his existence to become a knot in Song Xingmu’s heart when dealing with the Great Zhou Dynasty.

But in the next moment, Liu Zhenqing changed his mind.

Song Xingmu regarded Huo Fenglie with contempt: “Huo Fenglie, the last thing you should believe is that he would harm your ge. Your ge wrote to me before the last battle, telling me that if anything unexpected happened, I must protect Liu Zhenqing. He mentioned in the letter that he also told you this. So, are you worthy of your ge and Liu Zhenqing?”

Liu Zhenqing was astonished. He hadn’t known that Huo Fenglie had said such a thing back then. Just as he was in shock, Huo Fenglie said in a heavy voice: “You’re right.”

Liu Zhenqing took a deep breath. This foolish Er-gou!

He saw that Song Xingmu was about to move, and quickly shouted: “Er-gou, if you dare to let yourself get hurt over such a stupid thing, don’t expect me to forgive you.”

The sound of “Er-gou” caused Song Xingyu to pause for a moment. When he turned to look, he saw Liu Zhenqing looking at him with burning eyes.

“Song Xingmu, the spring is warm and the flowers are blooming. Although I am not here to cultivate, the time is just right. Have you prepared my favorite wine and fish?”

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Chapter Seventy-Seven << Table of Contents >> Chapter Seventy-Nine